Electric operated door unlocker for motor vehicles



Oct. 20, 1942. H. A. MULLER I 2,299,646

ELECTRIC OPERATED DOOR UNLOGKER FOR MOTOR VEHICLES I Filed Aug. 6, 19413 Sheets-Sheet 1 1: :1 88 26 42 I I: I

I, ,4- 32 .35 I I I HenrryAJdidLer:

IN VEN TOR.

Oct. 20, 1942. M R 2,299,646

I ELECTRIC OPERATED DOOR UNLOCKER FOR MOTOR YEHICLES Filed Aug. 6, 19415 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ear -7A Mu Z10" INVENTOR.

ATTDRN EYS Oct. 20, 1942. H. A. MULLER 2,299,646

ELECTRIC OPERATED DOOR UNLOCKER FOR MOTOR VEHICLES 3 Sheds-Sheet 3 FiledAug. 6, 1941 ATTDRN EYE Patented Oct.20, 1942 ELECTRIC OPERATED DOORUNLOCKER FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Henry A. Muller, Pittsburgh, Pa. ApplicationAugust 8, 1941, Serial No. 405,709

Claims. (Cl. 70-283) This invention relates to an electric operated doorunlocker for motor vehicles.

It is desirable in observing the amenities that a driver seat a frontseat passenger first and then walk around the vehicle to his driversposition. The driver must stand in trafilc while he unlocks the driversdoor or has it unlocked for him by the driver's passenger.

The present invention provides a button in the door lamb at thepassenger's side of the front seat, a source of electricity, a solenoid,and means connecting the solenoid to the door latch on the driver's sideof the front seat so that after the driver has seated his passenger hemay press the button, close the door and then walk around to his driversposition and find the door already unlocked so that he need not stand intraflic before assuming his drivers position in the vehicle.

A further object isgto provide a door unlocker which will include aswitch which can be placed at any convenient point in the solenoidcircuit to be used if a door key is lost to operate the opener, theswitch being controlled by a combination lock.

A further object is to provide apparatus of this character which will beformed of a few strong, simple and durable parts, which will beinexpensive to manufacture, and which will not easily get out of order.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists ofcertain novel details of construction and combinations of partshereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood thatvarious modifications may be resorted to within the scope of theappended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any ofthe advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of an automobile equipped withan electric operated door unlocker constructed in accordance with theinvention, the door on the passenger's side of the front seat beingremoved to expose the button switch.

Figure 2 is a. horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure1, drawn to large scale.

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view showing the connectors forconducting the current through the hinged side of the door.

Figure 4 is a front elevation of a portion of the drivers door, ionisingin the direction of the line il- 5 of Figure 2, with portions brokenaway to expose the doc-r unlocker shown in full lines ,at one stage ofthe combination and requiring a further setting to permit the arm of thepush rod arriving at position to close the switch contact.

Figure '7 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 1-1 of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 8-4 of Figure 6.

Figure 9 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 99 of Figure 6.

Figure 10 is a rear end elevation of the combination switch and showingthe electrical connections thereof with the solenoid circuit.

Referring now to the drawings in which like characters of referencedesignate similar parts in the various views, it) designates anautomobile, i I the drivers seat thereof, l2 the door on the driverssideof the seat, and i3 the source of electricity, these parts beingconventional.

In carrying out the invention a solenoid i4 is secured to the frame itof the driver's door inner wall by an angular bracket H, see Figure 2.

The solenoid is disposed in vertical position and is providedwith amovable core l8 carried by a rod l9 which projects at both ends from thecore.

The upper end of the rod 119 is plvotally connected to one end of a rocklever 20 which is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends to a pivot pin2| carried by one wall of a latch housing 22, see Figure 2. The free endof the lever is provided with a laterally disposed pin 23.

A detent 24 is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on a pivot pin 25which projects from the wall of the housing, again see Figure 2.

- The detent is provided with a depending notched I plate 26 having anarcuate periphery whose center is the pivot pin 25 and having twonotches 21 in the periphery, see Figure 4. One end of the detentoverlies the laterally disposed pin 23 of the rock lever 20. The otherend of the detent is provided with a laterally disposed tooth 28, seeFigure 2. I

A latching bolt 28 is slideably mounted in the housing and at one end isconnected by a reach rod iii to the inside door handle 36, see Figure l.The bolt is provided with a spring Dressed head 32 which enters a keeper3-8 on the lamb 34 of the driver's door, see Figure 2.

The bolt is provided near the head with a flange 35 having a notch 86therein to receive the crank arm M of the handle 38 disposed on theexterior of the outer wall 39 of the driver's door, see Figure 2. Thehandle, as is customary, is turned to swing the crank arm 37 to engageone wall of the notch 35 and retract the bolt to permit the door to beopened from the outside. The bolt is spring pressed to closed positionby a coil spring 38, see Figure 4, which is secured at one end to a pinll which is anchored to the wall of the housing 22. The free end of thespring is engaged in a notch All formed in the bottom edge of the bolt.

The tooth 2d of the detent is disposed in rear of the notched flange 35when the bolt is closed, that is, is in latching position. The detentmust be rocked from the full line position shown in Figure 4 to thedotted line position to dispose the tooth out of the path of the flangewhen the door is to be opened. For this purpose a rod :32 is pivotallyconnected at the lower end to the rear end of the detent and extendsvertically upward through an opening id in the housing 22. The upper endof the rod is equipped with a button i l which projects above the bottomof the window frame 35. By pulling the rod 62 upward the rear. end ofthe detent is elevated and the tooth 28 is dislodged from in rear of thenotched flange 35 to permit the door to be opened from the exterior byturning the handle 38. When the rod 412 is pushed down the reversemovement of the detent takes place and the tooth is lodged in rear ofthe notched flange to hold the door locked.

The solenoid i i serves as a medium for electrically moving the detent23 independent of manipulation of the rod 32. By referring to Figure 4it will be seen that when the solenoid is energized the rod it? pullsthe lever 2d downward at the outer end and elevates the inner end. Thepin 23 on the inner end of the lever thereupon rocks the detent todislodge the tooth 28 from in rear of the notched flange 35 and permitthe door to be opened from the outside.

A leaf spring 555 is secured stationary at one end to the housing 22 byrivets ill or other connectors. The free end of the leaf spring isprovided with a V-shape ofiset it which enters the notches 27 of thedetent selectively and yieldably holds the detent either in operativeposition to hold the bolt against being retracted or in releasedposition, shown by dotted lines in Figure 4, to permit the bolt to beretracted.

For energizing the relay a circuit wire 39 is connected to the source ofcurrent 53, and is connected to a, push button switch b secured to thejamb iii of the door on the passenger's side of the drivers seat. Acircuit Wire 52 returns from the switch to a resilient conductor 53which is secured to an insulating base 5% by one of the securing bolts55 which attach the base to the door frame 56 at the hinged side of thedoor, see Figure 3. The resilient conductor bears against a pin 577which is slideably mounted in an opening 58 in the base 5% and projectsthrough an opening 59 in the door frame. A conductor 6b is secured tothe hinged side of the drivers door and is insulated therefrom by abushing ti. A wire 62 leads from the conductor to one end of the coil ofthe solenoid, see Figure 4. The other 2,299,646 shown at 53 on anysuitable metal part of the automobile door.

When the push button is operated current will flow from the source ofcurrent through electrical connections and solenoid to energize thesolenoid. The core i8 is drawn into the solenoid when the solenoid isenergized to pull down the lever and raise the free end of the detent todraw the tooth 28 of the detent from obstructing position back of thenotched flange 35 and permit the drivers door being opened from the outside through the medium of the handle 38.

, A helical spring 643 is secured at one end to the bottom of thesolenoid through the medium of an annular lip 66 and is secured at theother end to the rod E9 of the solenoid core iii of a nut (it. he springis a retractile spring, and yieldably holds the core lit at its releasedupper posiing post 52 and to the supply end of th coil of the solenoidis grounded as vided with two pins 98 tion in the solenoid so that thepin 23 of the lever 2b is normally spaced from the detent and cannotrattle against the detent due to vehicle vibration when the detent is inposition to permit the bolt to be opened. When the detent is in positionto prevent th bolt from being opened the pin 23 will be yieldably heldagainst the detent so that in this position also rattling will beprevented.

The combination switch comprises a shell 5? having a cover btlprovidedwith a threaded nipple 69 which may be engaged into a suitable openingin the body it or other part of the motor vehicle and secured thereto bya. pair of nuts ll.

A pair or binding posts it and it are secured to the rear end wall ofthe shell and insulated therefrom. Inside the shell one of the bindingposts is equipped with a switch contact lb. The other binding post isequipped with a spring arm ll which terminates in a switch contact E8.The switch contact l8 overlies the contact it and is adapted to be movedto circuit closing position against the contact i5 by an insulating arm5 on a push rod it.

The binding posts are connected to the solenoid circuit between the pushbutton "db and the combination switch through the medium of a conductorwire 8b which is connected to the conductor wire 62 and to the bindingpost it, and a conductor wire 8i which is connected to the bindwire 18from the battery 63.

The push rod iii is slidably and rotatably mounted in a bushing 82 whichis rotatably mounted in the nipple 59. The push rod is equipped with abutton t3 disposedexteriorly of the vehicle body to and the button isprovided with a. flange 8 3 displaying a pointer 85, see Figure 5. Thebushing 62 is provided exteriorly of the body of the car with a hollowbutton 86 which receives one of the nuts M, and which is provided with aflange til displaying a pointer 88,

see Figure 5.

The tumbler mechanism comprises a U-shaped member 39 having one legformed integral with the bushing 82 and having the other leg providedwith a bearing eye bill which slidably and rotatably receives thetubular extension bl of a disk 92. The tubular extension has asubstantially rectangular bore which non-rotatably receives asubstantially rectangular portion 93 of the push rod 19.

The .disk is provided in the periphery with two pairs of diametricallydisposed slots 96 and 95, and 96 and 97, and the U-shaped member 89 hasits transverse portion in the form of a web proand 99. An arm n00projects from the shell 01 radially toward the push rod and is providedwith two pins Ill and To operate the combination switch the push minedpoint on the dial as indicated by the arrow 00. at this time the pin ofthe U-shaped member 00 will be brought into alignment with the slot 08in the disk 02. At this time the push rod 10 may be pushed rearwardlyuntil the disk 02 contacts the pin 09 o! the U-shaped member 00 and thepin I02 of the arm I00, preventing further movement of the push rod. Thebutton 03 is now again turned in the direction of the arrow head I04,see Figure 7, until the slot 91 of the disk 82 is brought into alignmentwith the pin I02 of the arm I00. At this time the slot will also havearrived in alignment with the U-shaped member 09 and this time the pushrod may be pushed endwise its full length of movement to impinge thepush rod arm 5 against the leaf spring 11 and move the contact intocircuit closing position in with the contact I0, as shown by the dottedline position of the arm, see Figure 9. A helical spring i0! is sleevedon the push rod between the end of the shell 01 and a nut I06 which isthreadedly engaged on the push rod. The spring returns the push rod tonormal position after each actuation since the pushrod need merely beheld momentarily in operative position and then released to accomplishenergizing oi the solenoid.

By arranging the slots on the disk 02 in difierent positions differentcombinations may be made up. Also by changing the position of the switcharm 5 diflerent combinations can be made up. By triplicating the slotsand pins, or even quadrupling the same diflerent combinations can bemade up.

From the above description it is thought that the construction andOperation of the invention will be fully understood without furtherexplanation.

What is claimed is:

1. An electrically operated door unlocker for a motor vehiclecomprising, a spring projected bolt on one door of a motor vehicle, saidbolt having an integral flange, a centrally pivoted detent, a manuallyoperable push rod adapted to move the detent to obstructing positionwith relation to the flange, a pivoted lever adapted to move the detentto unobstructing position with relation to the flange to permit the boltto be retracted, means for releasably holding the detent in obstructingor unobstructingposition, a solenoid having a core connected to thelever for actuating the lever means connected to the core for yieldablyholding the lever in engagement with the detent to prevent rattling, anda switch controlled electric circuit for the solenoid.

2. The structure as of claim 1 and in which the member depending fromthe detent and whose center of curvature is the pivot of the detent, anda leaf spring having its free end deformed to releasably engage in thenotches interchangeably.

3. The structure as of claim 1 and in which the second named meanscomprises, .a rod projecting at both ends through the core and pivotallyconnected at one end to the lever, and a retractile spring fixed to thesolenoid and to the'other end of the rod for holding the core at itsouter limit of movement when the solenoid is tie-energized.

4. The structure as of claim 1 and in which the last named meanscomprises circuit wires connected to the solenoid, and a push buttonswitch on a door of the vehicle other than the door to which the springprojected bolt is applied to permit a driver unlocking one door with akey and operating the push button switch at the same door to unlockanother door of the vehicle. 5. The structure as of claim 1 and in whichthe last named means comprises a combination lock switch disposed on thevehicle, and circuit wires connecting the switch to the solenoid and toa source of electricity to permit the solenoid to be energized in theevent that the key for the vehicle door is lost. I r

' HENRY -A. MULLER.

